Operation Flutter

Operation Flutter was a US Army military operation of the Vietnam War which occurred in 1967.

By 1967, the only province entirely controlled by South Vietnam was the Saigon capital region; the Viet Cong had strongholds in northernmost Quang Tri Province and in the central Pleiku region of the Central Highlands. Hoping to secure a major VC stronghold and threaten the Viet Cong's hold on central and northern South Vietnam, the US Army decided to attack Pleiku and recapture the region.

The operation began with an attack on a Viet Cong supply base located along a main road. The Americans called in a massive napalm airstrike to soften up its defenses, killing most of the Viet Cong guerrillas there and allowing for US troops to move in and secure their command post. With the supply base secure, US troops attacked two different Viet Cong strongholds: one, located to the west, was a Viet Cong-held estate; the other, located to the north, was Fort Blaizot, an old French colonial fort. The Americans took the estate, but they suffered heavy losses due to a series of Viet Cong attempts to retake it; some Viet Cong fighters even managed to enter the building itself before being killed. With the estate secure, all US forces advanced on the Viet Cong-held Fort Blaizot, from which the VC snipers took a heavy toll on advancing American soldiers on the one and only bridge crossing a river, and on the American soldiers slowly wading through the river. Ultimately, the Americans were able to secure Fort Blaizot after several minutes of heavy air bombardment, but taking the fort came at a high price; of the 600 US soldiers who were actively engaged in the operation, 89% of them were killed or wounded. The Viet Cong also suffered heavy losses, and they were forced to withdraw from the Pleiku region, leaving it in US hands.